Seeing Into the Future
by Montreat11
Summary: When Rumpelstiltskin develops a potion that allows a person to see into their future, Belle cannot resist the urge to test it for him. She expected to see the toll a life of a servant would take on her, what she didn't expect to see was something even more wonderful than she could ever put words to. Not part of the Moments Series, just a one-shot for the Rumbelle Anniversary!


**In honor of the Rumbelle Anniversary today I humbly submit for your entertainment this fiction! It's been a while since I posted a one-shot, but it's been sitting around for a little less than a year now and I can't think of a more appropriate time to do it than today! I hope that you enjoy it! And for the record, this is not part of the Moments Series. I considered it for a while, but it's a little too rich for Moments Series! I hope you'll enjoy it all the same!**

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She carried the tray with dinner up the steps to his tower slowly, taking each one as it came so she wouldn't trip and spill the small boat of gravy she'd set there for him. It was her best meal yet. Pork roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, and some carrots and green beans that she'd picked from the little garden she'd crafted all by herself. She was proud of it. This was the first night when she honestly couldn't tell the difference from her cooking and the cooking the servants had done as a child!

And he hadn't wanted to come to dinner.

She'd waited for him in anticipation, actually excited to rub his nose in just how much she'd improved from the first time she'd made a dinner like this and the potatoes had been crunchy, the gravy cold, and the meat only cooked on the outside. When he hadn't showed up and she'd made this climb the first time she'd been irritated by his response that he was working and wanted her to go away! Irritated…but also unsatisfied. So she'd gone downstairs, fixed this plate, and was going to watch him taste this until he had to admit that she was getting better at this whole caretaker assignment!

"I told you to go away!" he snapped before she'd barely even set foot in the room.

"And I will…right after you've had some dinner!"

"Not hungry." He moved quickly to another table where something was boiling in a small cauldron, added something she couldn't quite make out, then watched as it flashed and began to smoke. When she unshielded her eyes she saw that he was quickly ladling the concoction out of the cauldron and into a small black bottles.

"What is that?" she asked setting the tray down and taking a curious step closer to the stuff.

"Nothing to concern you," he answered.

She sighed and resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him. "Well, I'm not leaving until you try dinner so-"

"Well, I could always make you!" he responded, spinning around and flourishing his arms with a smile. But she didn't flinch. She'd been here too long for that.

"Then make me…" she dared.

His fingers twitched and a muscle twitched in his mouth. She waited. For a shout. For magic. For an order. But instead he set the bottle he'd been holding down on the table with a loud frustrated bang, made two strides over to the table she'd placed the tray on, picked up the fork, and took a bite more suitable for an elephant than a man. He was humoring her and for a moment she thought she'd have to tell him to chew like a toddler! But then he took another bite, smaller, slower; and she felt herself smirk as she watched.

"Well?" she questioned moving away from his side and to the table the bottles of potion sat.

"It's fine," he growled from his spot as he took another bite. She smiled and turned away, pretending not to notice or care that the last time she'd made this meal he'd threatened to lock her in the dungeon forever if she didn't improve quickly. Apparently she'd improved. "Fine" was a better compliment than she'd expected if she was being honest.

"Stay away from there!" he hollered over his shoulder.

"So what is this? What are you working on?" she asked picking a bottle and ignoring his warning. "And don't tell me it's none of my concern. I'm not actually going to use it."

He grabbed the napkin she'd placed on the tray and was clearly unaware that his glare was considerably less menacing while he was wiping his mouth. "If you must know it's a special mixture to induce visions," he answered before stepping forward and tearing the bottle from her hand.

"Visions? What kind of visions?"

"Visions you'll never see!"

This time she did roll her eyes. "Honestly, haven't you ever had a conversation before?" He always acted so angry and threatening! Did he know that he just wasn't that scary? Maybe that was why he never let anyone get as close to him as she had. Maybe he knew they'd make the discovery she had.

"With any luck it induces visions of the future."

"'With any luck'? You don't know?"

"Well I can't exactly test it on myself, now can I?!" he spat. "I already see the future!"

"So if you already see the future then why do you need it?"

He shrugged. "You never know. It's always nice to be prepared."

How oblique. Leave it to him never to answer a question honestly. Maybe he really hadn't ever had a conversation before. Maybe he was simply too guarded for such a thing to ever happen. Though…

She picked one of the bottles up off the table and was surprised when he didn't yank it out of her hand again, but let her examine it. It was intriguing. Not the potion itself, but the idea and purpose behind it. Visions of the future. Was it possible that a single potion could allow a person to look into their futures and see…what would they see? Anything she supposed! Prosperity? Wealth? Desolation? Family? Loneliness? Love?

What would she see?

Well she knew what she'd see. This. These grey walls. An older, maybe wiser, version of herself carrying dinner up the stairs to a Rumpelstiltskin she feared wouldn't have changed a bit. It was a certain future already set in stone and she imagined there were people who would kill to have the stability and assurance that she had. But to her that assurance meant nothing next to the bleakness of it all. Her future might have been secure, but it was certainly nothing to look forward to. And yet…

"I could test it for you if you want," she suggested.

Finally he reached around and plucked the bottle out of her hand again. "Out of the question," he dismissed easily. A little too easily for her taste.

It was amazing how the right words could make her want to do something that she really didn't care to do in the first place. "What do you think I'll see?" she demanded. "You've imprisoned me forever. If I see this then we know it works!"

"Well now that's the thing about the future dearie! You never know what it may hold and I can't have you seeing something you won't like! It might interfere in your duties."

"I've accepted my fate. Have you?" She didn't even know what she meant by that. In the heat of the moment the challenge how just pushed it's way passed her mouth and into the open air between the two of them and surprisingly enough it seemed to have caught him off guard. He froze in place, only for a moment as if considering what she'd said before shaking his head.

"I don't have time to pick up the fragile remains of my maid if she doesn't like what she sees."

The "fragile remains of his maid"?! That was enough! She took two strides forward and extended her hand. "Give me the potion."

"Don't think you can-"

"Give it to me!" she yelled. He actually took a step away from her, as though she'd slapped him and unless she was mistaken, the look on his face was something like fear!

Whatever it was, it worked. Without another word he placed the bottle in her hand and she uncorked it. Her sense kicked in right before she held it at her mouth and instead she lifted it to her nose. It didn't smell like anything. Poison or not. Did potions have to have a smell? "It won't kill me will it?" she questioned.

"Not unless you have an allergy to ginger root," he answered unhappily.

That wasn't exactly the tone she'd been hoping for, gratitude for doing this would have been nice, but it was encouraging enough. With one breath she put the vile to her lips and swallowed it down in two gulps.

It tasted vile. Her eyes closed and her face screwed up as she tried not to gag! "That's awful!" she coughed. "How long until we know it's…working…"

It was working. It had to be. Because unless he'd lied and given her a transportation spell, when she opened her eyes she was shocked to discover that she wasn't in the castle anymore.

She was in a house. A very, very large house by the looks of it. The floor was wooden, the walls…they were plaster, not stone! It was warm and decorated…well…it was difficult to say. It appeared to be decorated well enough but it was also dark out and there wasn't any light in the place. She wondered if she could find a candle and light it so she could look around…

But when she looked down at her hands she gasped. Her body…it glowed! Not enough to give off good light, but just enough to give off a cool blue haze around her. But that wasn't even the most disturbing thing! She could see through herself! When she looked at her hand she could see her skin lit up in ivory perfection and the floor below!

So…she was a ghost then? Here? In this house…this was supposed to be her future? But then…where was she? Looking around she saw the shadows of couches and tables, odd little decorations on the tables in the shape of rectangles and another odd form she couldn't identify that must be sculpture of some kind. But she didn't see herself! This was supposed to be her future, so where was she?

Suddenly the wood above her head gave an odd groan as if weight had just come down on it and she looked up realizing that there were stairs before her. The house had two stories. Could she…

Before she could even really question if she could walk in this state, much less climb stairs, she was moving forward. It felt odd to move, like she was floating instead of stepping, but it was forgotten when she got to the top of the steps. It was a hallway. A railing that allowed her to safely look over into the place she'd been standing only second ago and doors. Lots of doors. Bedrooms she assumed. Some of the doors were only open a crack but there were two others that were open wide and she could see the foot of a bed frame peaking out from one of them. Maybe that was where she'd heard the sound. Perhaps she was asleep and had just rolled over the wrong way.

No.

No sooner had she moved toward the open door did she hear another sound coming from the only room that was completely closed off. It was a breath. A sigh or a groan, it was hard to tell but she knew the sound hadn't been casual or happy. Was she locked up in this odd little place? Still held prisoner after all this time?

She bid her body to move forward. She didn't feel the door, it didn't open for her she merely glided through the hard surface and into the room. And then she wished she hadn't!

She'd never experienced it, but she knew what she'd walked in on from the books she'd read and she instantly felt heat flood into her ghost-like body as her nerves tingled. The amorous pair couldn't see her, somehow she knew that she was less than a ghost to them, but she still felt like she'd interrupted something, or better yet she felt as though she'd intruded on something so private not even ghosts should be there. She didn't know why she was here, but she knew she needed to leave and was about to, but as she turned to go back through the door the deep groan of one of the pair caught her ear and a flash of something…familiar, caught her eye.

She should go. But curiosity got the best of her. After all, the potion he'd given her had delivered her to this strange house for some reason or other and if what he'd told her was true then what she was witnessing technically hadn't even come to pass yet, so…

She gave the couple a brief glance and what she saw, that thing that had been familiar…it was shocking.

That was her hair! Her hair splayed out on the pillows! Her hair the strange man was grasping at.

She felt her jaw drop and must have willed her body forward, to take a closer look, to see a face, to get confirmation.

She gasped and her wispy hands went to her non-existent mouth. The woman in the bed was her! Older, certainly. She wasn't nearly as small as she was now, she had the smallest bit of fat over her adding a couple of inches here and there. She was more wrinkled and now that she was close she could see small wisps of grey hair in the moonlight. Not a lot, but enough to make her vainly reach up and touch her own hair as if she could keep it from seeing this. Time had obviously passed, but that was her! And she was…she was actually…there was a man in her bed! Kissing her. Passionately! His face obscured by the moonlight as he grabbed her hair, touched her neck, her shoulder, her-

She crossed her arms over her chest at the sight and looked away, unsure of exactly what she should be feeling. Instinct told her to be embarrassed and insist the stranger stop touching her everywhere but especially there. But…she?! Herself! When she looked back she didn't seem to mind the touch at the moment. In fact she watched as her back arched and moved under him, attempting to get closer to the man. Her face felt like it was on fire as she finally gave in and watched. She didn't think it was possible to be closer to the man.

Suddenly the man gave another groan, one that sounded just as familiar as the one she'd nearly forgotten about was and instinct told her to run so they wouldn't catch her, momentarily forgetting why and how she was here until-

She moved. She, the her on the bed, moved at least. She tore her mouth from her…lovers?! Immediately she tangled her fingers in brown and grey hair then pushed on his shoulder, rolling him over onto his back. She didn't know what about the sight shocked her most. The urge she had to reach out and cover the naked skin that was just hanging there as she rolled her neck to toss her hair over her shoulder. The fact that she was the one suddenly kissing the man's neck as he moved his hands over her bare shoulders and back. No…she knew what shocked her most.

Him.

As she watched herself work her way down his neck the moonlight fell over his face and she realized that she knew him. It was him! The Dark One. Her mysterious lover was Rumpelstiltskin!

She couldn't move now if she wanted to. She was frozen, staring down at what she saw trying to make sense of it all. He wasn't the same as she knew. His skin was normal, his hair softer, and if she could see his eyes she had a feeling that they would be normal instead of the reptilian that she knew, but it just didn't matter to her at the moment. All she cared about was what was happening now.

She…was in bed…with the Dark One! With Rumpelstiltskin! She was kissing him! The man that had taken her captive! Was…was this her future? Was this what they were bound to become? Was he going to force her into his bed in this strange place, this abnormal house?! She felt panic set in, panic like she hadn't felt since she found out that she was doomed to be Gaston's wife and forced to have a child with him. She'd been so sure, so so sure when she agreed to this deal that she'd left that all behind but now…seeing this…it all…it was all that-

"Oh, I love you."

The words snapped her out of her panic and drew her attention back to what had happened. Those words, it must have been a spontaneous utterance…but it hadn't come from her. It couldn't have, she realized, not only was the voice too deep but her mouth was clearly…occupied, kissing the skin on Rumple's chest with more concentration than she knew she was capable of. Which could only mean…

Him. Those words they'd come…from Rumpelstiltskin.

Had…had she heard what she thought she did? She didn't know if it was possible, not the way he was now. He was breathing hard, his head was reclined, and his eyes were closed as she…kissed him. But it was a strange look that he had on his face. A look of bliss, unhinged bliss, she thought with a blush. So did that mean that she'd really heard-

"Oh, my darling I love you so much," she saw him whisper in the moonlight. Before she could really register the implication of everything that she'd just heard, the her that was close to him picked her head up and lounged almost too easily over top of him, reaching for his hand and twining their fingers together. His other hand…oh she must be on fire by now! His other hand had followed her back and disappeared below the sheet tangled at her waist, which could only mean that he was touching-

She sneered at the discovery and didn't know if she should gag or scream or cry...but the her on the bed, the one actually being touched, she didn't seem bothered by the invasion. She smiled as she gazed down at him from her position above. Her smile was strange, unfamiliar. It was…cozy in a way. Soft. And that look?! The one she was giving him now. What could that mean? It was like she was saying something, but without words. What was it?! Was she under some kind of spell? Was she even in control of her own body?

Slowly she watched herself lean down and kiss Rumpelstiltskin again. Then again. Then again before he gave another groan and turned her back over on her back. She was mesmerized by what she saw. Something between her legs ached as she watched them, her! She was untouched…but she had the feeling this version of her wasn't untouched. All of this, it just seemed to come too easily to her. The sheets were pulled down over their waists and she didn't seem to care as he lay out between her legs. She didn't seem to be shy as her hand drifted between their bodies and they both let out a small whimper before it returned to his cheek, pulling him down to kiss her again. It was a greedy tug. A tug that forced her to see what she hadn't before. She wanted to kiss him. And she wanted…more!

He was moving. She was moving. The two of them. Together. Simultaneously. Their hips were rocking together. When he gave she seemed to take. When she pushed he pulled. It was remarkable to see when she dissociated herself from the fact that the woman was her! Even their breath came in unison gasps! They were touching each other unashamedly. One of her legs was suddenly around his waist and one of his hands touched her hip and leg securing it in place, leaving one dent in her skin for each of his fingers. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and held her arching back. Her own nails dug into the skin on his back. They continued to kiss each other as they moved, quicker and quicker, mouths on lips then cheeks, then necks and shoulders-

Until she finally tossed her head back into the pillow and let out a strange gasp through closed eyes. He grunted as his head fell to her chest and they both fell into stillness as their chest heaved up and down against each other.

"Oh," she heard her voice for the first time, a small exhausted cry before things moved. The leg that had been around his waist dropped to the bed and fell into a heap, seeming almost too spent to try and move it. And her arms! As tension left her chest and shoulders she finally opened her eyes and moved her arms over his back, up his neck, and into his hair.

Still he didn't move! He just let her touch him! Why? What was she doing? What was he doing? What was happening what kind of a spell was she under? Was it just her? Or Rumpelstiltskin too? He certainly wasn't acting like the beast she knew in the castle. But he was the Dark One! How could any spell work on him? And how could she-

"Oh my love," she heard herself whisper into the darkness. Her jaw dropped. She could speak. And what she'd said…was she under a spell? Was it possible she wasn't? "Are you alright?" she asked him.

The man laying flush against her moved. He burrowed against her, moved his head against the skin under her chest before finally stilling and closing his eyes, looking more tired than she'd ever known Rumpelstiltskin to be. "In your arms I am more than alright," he whispered back. His words, they were…romantic! Flattering and unless she was mistaken they were authentic. Then…that had to mean…he loved her! He'd meant what he said earlier and really did…love her! So then…she wasn't under a spell? But if that was the truth, then that had to mean that she-

She watched as she leaned forward and placed a small kiss on top of his head. "Maybe we should both get some sleep," she whispered.

A small smirk tugged at Rumpelstiltskin's lips before he opened his eyes and finally picked himself up off her naked chest. "All things considered that would be the smart thing to do," he commented with a smile that she could only describe as dashing. Then he leaned down, traced a hand over the center of her chest and up her neck and kissed her again. Slowly. Tenderly. It left a smile on her lips when he finally pulled away and she covered his hand with her own as if she didn't want him to stop touching her. "I love you," he whispered softly.

"And I love you too," she whispered back without missing a beat.

She loved him. They…the two of them…her and the Dark One…they were in love! Love. He loved her and she loved him! She didn't even know how to begin processing that information, this future that his potion had made her see. Was it a trick? A hallucination? A joke?

Did she want it to be?

She didn't know quite what she'd expected after what she'd seen the two of them do, she supposed that she expected them to let go of one another and go to separate rooms or at least separate sides of the bed, but they didn't. Rumpelstiltskin placed a tender kiss on her forehead, one that made her smirk because she could see how much he loved her in that moment, then rolled over onto his back. They were both still naked and she felt herself blush and avert her eyes from him and instead felt the urge to pull something up over her own naked body. But she didn't need to. She watched as she sat up, reached down for the blankets and moved them up over their waists before turning and wrapping herself around him. She rested her head over his chest and he wrapped his arm around her back, pulling the sheets even farther up over her before she rested her arm over his stomach and he began rubbing her back as they settled. It was perfect, as if they did this little ritual all the time! But-

It was then that she saw it, another sight she hadn't been prepared for. There was a ring on his hand, the one that he was moving over her back. A wedding ring! And as she let out a content sigh against him she was drawn to the hand draped over his stomach. A wedding ring on her own finger.

They were in love.

And they were married!

She felt her form waiver as she stared at the two of them. Married. She was married to the Dark One. She was going to fall in love with the man that had traded for her to save her village. One day, night really, they'd do…what she'd just seen! More often than once. It just…it didn't seem possible! How they were now…it wasn't bad! She liked being around him, she liked living with him in the castle some days when he was tolerable, but…this?! Would the like that she felt for him eventually grow into…love?

She glanced back at the pair of them. They weren't asleep, he wasn't at least, his hands moved up and down over her back as she breathed easy next to him. The Rumpelstiltskin she knew barely paid her any attention, in fact while she knew that he enjoyed her company he tended to prefer acting as though he didn't. But the way that he was holding her against him now, the way that he was glancing down at her and placing little kisses against her hair and forehead…she didn't know that man. She didn't know he could or would ever be that tender as the man she saw in the bed. She didn't know if he could ever love anyone like that let alone her!

She sighed next to him suddenly, snuggled closer in a way that she wasn't sure was possible until now. "I love you," she muttered sleepily, clearly on the edge of falling into an abyss. And it was him she thought of as she clung to it? Her desire to tell him that she loved him?!

"And I love you, too," he cooed back, kissing her forehead. "You are the best thing in my life."

Next to him she offered a small snort. "Careful who you say that around," she whispered.

"It's true though," he offered back. "Because without you the life that we have now wouldn't be possible. You've given me everything I never knew was missing. Our life is-"

"Perfect," she whispered lifting herself up on her elbow and running her fingers through the hair at his eyes. "Our life is perfect," she confirmed for him before leaning down and kissing him. "Now go to sleep. There is plenty of life to live when we wake in the morning."

"If we make it that long."

"All the more reason to sleep now," she whispered before laying back against his chest.

He nodded, seeming to agree with her and closed his eyes as his hand continued to roam over her bare back and the arm at his waist.

She was crying. Was that possible? She wasn't even a ghost! Could she cry?! Was there any way that she couldn't? Yes it was Rumpelstiltskin but…it was so beautiful. It was so genuine and loving! She could see how much the couple in the bed loved each other. It was in everything they said and did tonight. It was in the way they couldn't pull themselves away from each other, their honesty, their pronouns even! "We" and "our"! That was their life! They were a pair in every way and she felt herself tear up at it's beauty.

She'd pictured this once. Just once before. Before her engagement, before she'd known about the act of sex, before she knew about her betrothal to Gaston. This was what she'd pictured in her youth, the way she'd hoped she'd be loved, the way she expected love to look and feel like. This was what she thought that true love should be. Not what her nurse had described to her, not what she'd feared in making a child with Gaston. This was what she'd thought was unattainable. And here it was, with Rumpelstiltskin?! Was it really in her grasp all this time? Oh, she wanted to know what she had to do to get here. To have that moment. To have-

A sharp scream from somewhere outside the bedroom drawer startled her…and pulled them from sleep instantly. "Mama! Papa! Monster! Help!"

Her jaw dropped as she watched them, eyes wide, looking at each other as they held their breath for a second, fear in their eyes. She didn't understand. It was too much to take in. There was a child. She was in danger and they were there just waiting for-

A moment later she understood. A baby began to cry in the distance. She watched as she dropped her head back onto his chest and let out a small groan. "It was too good to be true," she sighed.

He nodded next to her. "We should have slept when we had the chance," he answered.

She only picked up her head and shook it, even amid the noise. "I wouldn't trade our time together for anything." Then she leaned down and kissed him quickly before rolling over. "I'll get him, you get her?" she questioned. "Be sure to check the others," she added before quickly getting out of bed and finding clothes. Others? More than two?!

He nodded again and sat up. "I'll keep an eye on them," he responded finding clothes for himself and hurrying out the door after her. "Papa's coming," she heard him affirm in the hall as another high pitched cry yelled out for him.

The image suddenly began to fade and fuzz as if it was being washed away by the rain and all at once she was back in the castle again.

She was solid.

And the Rumpelstiltskin that she knew stood before her eyeing her with an odd almost clinical expression.

She was in a chair and she felt herself blush and shrink from the place that he stood before her. He was too close! Wasn't he? Not according to what she'd seen but…for now? Her skin tingled as she moved away from him and couldn't dare to look him in the eye. He couldn't read minds could he?

"Well?" he snapped suddenly. "Speak up, dearie! Did it work or not?!"

He'd taken a step toward her and she felt her nerves roar to life again, her legs, her arms…but the nerves in her belly was different suddenly, it was a feeling she'd never felt before especially…especially around…him.

Had it worked? Was what she'd just seen true? The future? Her future?

Theirs?

She didn't know what to think. Or maybe she did know what to think and it just seemed too impossible. Maybe she was thinking too many things!

Had it worked?

The place she'd been, it hadn't looked like any place that she knew of. She hadn't exactly spent much time looking around but when she pictured it again in her mind's eye the entire house looked odd, the things in it weren't recognizable. She knew nothing from the castle had been there. He'd even looked different so…so different. His skin, his hair, his smile, but his eyes…

Perhaps that was the one thing that she thought, hoped or feared she didn't know, that gave him credibility. His eyes had looked different, but the look he'd had in them before it was familiar. Not very familiar but she had seen it before, once or twice when he looked at her. And when she looked back and not a word was spoken and she felt…

"It uh…" she pushed herself out of the chair and wrapped her arms around her middle as she walked to the window grateful for a bit of cold air. "It might have worked…I suppose only time will tell."

"I suppose," he growled behind her. "What did you see?"

"Nothing!" she snapped too quickly, like a child who had been caught stealing something they shouldn't. She felt herself blush again and stared out into the valley below. "Nothing important. It's my future isn't it? I don't have to share it with...with you." Although if what she'd just seen was any indication, that was exactly what was fated to happen.

"Well then it's too bad you won't know it even when it arrives!"

"What?!" she questioned spinning around. Her breath caught again when she saw him and she wondered if that would ever go away. She felt like their relationship, if it could even be called that, had just taken a very big leap forward while they'd been standing still. It was the strangest feeling she'd ever had.

But it faded when he stopped looking at her and turned back to his table to grab a black vial that hadn't been there when she had taken the other one. "Knowing the future is dangerous, Dearie! It plays tricks on our mind and if your reaction is any indication…" he turned around and she immediately diverted her eyes and felt a blush creep into her cheeks. She couldn't help it. She'd seen what she'd seen and when she looked at him…she felt like she'd walked in on a private moment and he didn't even know it. What would he think of what she'd seen? If she told him what she'd seen them do, how they'd spoken to each other, how they'd touched each other, would he feel as odd as she did.

"Ignorance is bliss," he whispered and when she finally picked her eyes up off the floor she found he'd come closer to her with that same vial. "Knowing your future could change it. The potion works, but if you take this," he presented her with the little vial and a grin, "you'll have a good night's sleep and when you arise in the morning all of today and what you saw will be gone! Just like that!"

Just like that?

Take a potion and it was gone, her future, the one that she'd seen, would be left intact. But if she didn't…

She could change it. She knew what the future held for her now and if she didn't like it she could move in a different direction, she could make sure that future never came to pass!

Did she want to?

It was awkward. He'd stepped away when she took the little bottle from him and it was still too close! Now. But if what she'd seen was real there would be a time when it wasn't close enough. She'd never seen herself in the way she'd seen herself in that vision. It had been obvious the years had taken their toll, but in a good way. She'd seemed…happy. They both had seemed happy. Married, children…in love. It felt odd now, but with a simple drink she could get rid of that and keep it, let it develop as it should then maybe it wouldn't be as awkward.

But that future, on the arm of the Dark One forever…it sounded risky. He hadn't looked like the Dark One in that vision but not being the Dark One, that had to be a task all on it's own! A lot of heart ache and mystery had to be endured, who knew what else in order to get there from…here! From standing feet away from each other unsure whether they could even tolerate each other.

Forget and keep it. Remember and change it.

She didn't have the answers. But from the depths of her memory a voice called out to her. It was her own voice, but years older, advice from herself when she hadn't even known she'd been giving it. "I wouldn't trade our time together for anything."

She didn't know when she'd made the decision, only that before she knew it she was popping the cork off the top of the little bottle and letting the warm liquid inside flow over her tongue and down her throat because somehow...she just couldn't take that moment away from herself. She didn't know how they'd get there, but she wanted to know more than she wanted to prevent it.

The effects were immediate. All at once she felt dizzy and unsteady on her feet. Her room was so far away and she was so tired she had the urge to simply lay down on the floor and sleep!

And then from amid the blurry surroundings there was a voice. "I had hoped you'd do that just before bed!" Rumpelstiltskin snapped. The voice was closer than she remembered him being and through her fog she felt his hands on her waist and shoulders steadying her. For a moment she had the urge to shrink away, to jump at his touch because it was too much…

But with every passing second the feeling faded. Her eyes felt heavy and her body melted into his strong arms. A second later she knew she was in her dungeons, laying on her bed and he was walking out of her cell.

What was it that had made her so tired?

* * *

 **Well there you are Rumbellers! Happy Rumbelle anniversary! I hope you'll enjoy this celebration of where we've been and hopefully where we're going! Don't forget to leave a review if you like it and thanks for reading! Peace and Happy Reading!**


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